The Unknown and Unaccounted
by EAM16
Summary: A war is not fought only by soldiers and Primes, nor does it only affect those involved. These are the stories of the Archivist, the Neutrals, the scientists, the criminals, and all the unknown in the war. Heavy on OCs.
1. The Archivist: Part 1

So I've had this idea floating around for the past few months and aside from work school and other obligations, have been compiling. I play a little bit with canon happenings and facts which will become more apparent as it goes on. This is the first little bit, let me know what you think.

As always nothing but the OCs are mine.

0o0o0o0

The Archivist Part 1

Erudite had worked in the archives for vorns. His apprenticeship had been under a truly miserable femme known as Austere, her claim to fame was being so horrifically unpleasant that not even the bravest Prime or Lord Protector would dare darken her door. It was simply so deceiving due to her appearance.

Austere was a gentle glitter-rose colour with white accents and rare green optics. She was extremely delicate, her features looked to be carved from glass, with a thin olfactory sensor and soft mouthplates. Her optics were oversized, giving her a constant slightly surprised/amazed expression on her faceplates. She was taller than the average femme as well as larger than many mechs and built with thin, frail limbs that gave her the illusion of floating as she moved, making her look lighter than air, and as graceful as any flier.

This was a dangerous misconception.

The femme was a master of several different forms of combat and was known to toss shuttle-class mechs out the Archive doors, if it so suited her. Not to mention that merely hearing the femme talk was a true test of courage. With such a light frame, it was expected she would have a light gentle voice.

This was not the case.

Whenever the femme spoke, it was the equivalent of listening to the screech of metal on metal, overlapped with the screams of her previous victims. It was a guttural rasping sound, that made it seem like she would blow out her vocal processing unit with every noise she made. Nothing was more terrifying then suddenly hearing her speak from behind you. The femme moved silently and seemed to teleport around to loom as needed. A common theory was that she had a portal to the Pit from whence she came and would use it to travel around the Archives. Honestly, it was a valid theory when it came to that femme.

In short, Austere, was the bane of society. She was the Master of Cybertronian Knowledge, more commonly known as the Head Archivist, and very well known to the general public as the Sparkeater Supreme. By the time Erudite had been unfortunate enough to become her apprentice, she had terrifying the general population part of her existence down to an art. She had burned the desire to do archive work out of 27 different femmes and 19 different mechs. Normally these numbers would not be too outrageous over several decades, however, Austere, had insisted on going for, and shattering, the record. She had gone through nearly 50 apprentices in under half a vorn. She may have continued her reign of terror if not for his sheer tenacity.

If Erudite was honest with himself, he was a half-cocked little bastard of a glitch who was determined to prove his Creators wrong. They had sent in his application for the Archives without him knowing and sent him off to Iacon to suffer under the tyranny of the Sparkeater Supreme. The only reason they did so was because they believed that he would not be able to do the work. Spite, as it turns out, is a very powerful motivator. Erudite had devoted himself entirely to the task in an effort to prove them wrong.

The first decade had nearly off lined him. Austere was relentless, there were orns where he had neither the time nor the ability to recharge simply due to her training regime. She would have him organize the Archives only for him to find out that she had switched the arrangement of the entire building after he had finished, much to the fury of the unwilling patrons. He had confronted her once, only once, near the beginning after he had reorganized 4 times.

"Fracking Pit femme! This is fragging ridiculous and you damn well know it!" Erudite had snarled and slammed the stack of pads on a cart he was using.

Ice cold green optics slid lazily but with intent to appraise the young mech, "Do I?" she rumbled.

Suppressing the involuntary shivers he got from hearing her speak, Erudite stepped closer, "Yeah, you do."

"Hmmm, most intriguing," she deadpanned without a trace of emotion.

"This is a waste of time! You could at least act like you care, you slagging psychopath!" He snapped.

There was a moment of pure silence throughout the building before she turned to face him fully and walked up till there was mere inches between them. The femme towered over him and she stared down at him for a moment before rasping, "Where is section IV of the Old Cybertronian Laws and Regulations?"

"What does that have to do with anything!?"

She stared him down, "Section IV, if you please, and do be specific."

"It's in section VII datapad 4 if you want Animatonal's historical report or in section XVI datapads X to XV if you are looking for academic publications or section IV and section V datapads L to LV for historical accounts and research or-" Erudite paused and stared at the femme with clarity. Her mouthplates twitched up into what might be considered a small smile if it was anyone but Austere and ground out, "Now you understand. And if you ever speak to me in such a manner again," she paused, "I will punish you in ways so excruciating you could never imagine them. Now, redo it all."

Erudite had grumbled but didn't dare snark back. Ever. Or at least, hardly ever. She had worked him till he had passed out and would wake up in a back room she had set up and promptly being sent back to work. At times he would mess up and she would beat him until he was sure that he would die, before she would repair him and send him back to work.

He distinctly remembered the orn he took over as Head Archivist. There was a soirée for the higher class that Austere had insisted they crash without an invitation. Naturally no one said anything and let both of them in. It was disconcerting watching her float from mech to mech before disappearing with one half his age. Erudite had escaped to a balcony that extended out and gave a breathtaking view of the city. With the murmur of the party behind him it had been peaceful until Austere had reappeared next to him.

"I have taught you as much as you will learn from me."

He damn near launched himself off the balcony out of surprise, "Primus! Don't do that! What does that even mean? Austere-"

"No," she snarled, "We are finished- I am finished."

Erudite stared at her uncomprehending, "I do not understand."

She snorted, a truly horrific noise, "I do not expect you to. You may be considered old, but you are still a mere youngling, you have no idea."

Trying to reign in his, slowly becoming legendary, temper he spoke, "Forgive me for being crass, but that is a load of slag."

She tossed her helm back and laughed. It was the first and only time he had ever heard her do so. It had jumped up a few octaves and her normal rasp gave it a metallic ring. It was, surprisingly, almost something pleasant to hear. "Ah, Erudite. If you ever are as old as I am, you may yet understand. And with your insatiable knowledge I have no doubt you may do so."

"I still have no idea what you are talking about!" He rolled his optics exasperated.

Austere turned to him and with severe intensity, grabbed his left servo and placed her other on his faceplates, cupping the angles and dips. "Erudite. You are my only student that I have ever trained fully. I spent millennia waiting for you. You have disappointed me at every turn and yet I have faith that you will not destroy the Archives, nor our peoples history."

A stab of disappointment and shame flashed through his spark but he kept his expression neutral but attentive as she continued. It had been the most she had ever spoken to him in one go despite the near millennium he had spent as her apprentice.

"I do not want to leave my home, but I am needed elsewhere. One day, when you have your own student, you will understand."

"I doubt I'll ever take a student, Teacher," he said calmly. He had expected her to brush him off and was surprised with the violence she answered with.

She tightened her grip and broke his servo and crushed some of his faceplates, as a finishing touch she made sure to crack his optic before calmly brushing over the injuries and returning back to her position. He grit his denta and quickly overrode, and shut down his neural net in the damaged areas. It was scary how used to her abuse he was, he would have been horrified before. Now it was something he prepared for and survived.

"Erudite," her death rattle drug him back to her optics, "you will have a student. You must. There is no alternative. You may wait an orn, vorns, or millennia for your student but you will wait. And you will teach them."

She pulled him down so they were eye level -and when had he grown taller? "Archivists will come and go, they are disposable. There is only one Master of Cybertronian Knowledge. There can only be one at a time and they must be taught by the previous one. You are the last of a dying breed. I foresee that knowledge will eventually lose its worth. Why else would there only be two left out of a thriving population."

She finally released him and stepped back, towards the gathering inside, "You were a disappointment, Erudite, I expected you to do better." With that she turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowds of mechs and femmes. It was the last time he ever saw her.

And she was right. Granted, it took a very very long time, but Austere had practically predicted the civil war between the Prime and the Lord Protector. At that point he had been such a permanent fixture in the Archives that most did not even remember Austere ever existed.

He had been there long before Orion Pax had become Optimus Prime. In fact, the archivist had allowed the former dock worker into his archives and taught him how to do basic trainee level work. He wasn't his apprentice, or ever would be for that matter, he did it as a form of payment for allowing the young mech to utilize his information for a little hard labour. Nothing he wasn't already used to. Chasing his older and younger brothers out of the Archives had become the norm for him. Before the little shit went and became Prime and drug his family along with him.

The archivist vented sharply and quickly signed the datapad to get the increasingly uncomfortable mech out of his office. "Is that all, or are you here to also stand around and waste my time?"

The mech snapped to attention, "Yes- I mean no. Sir. No sir, I'm not here to waste your time."

Erudite loomed rather impressively for a mech sitting down, "Then why, exactly, are you still in my archives? Shoo."

The teal and orange mech jumped, "Er, yes sir! I'll just- leave then. Sir." He spun on his heel and very nearly knocked a stack of datapads Erudite had just sorted. Unsurprisingly, reorganizing various political treaties of the First Age was not on his rather full list of things to do that orn.

"Kid," the old mech grunted, "try to remember why you were here in the first place."

The mech froze and gaped for a moment before skittering back to grab the datapad. He practically fled the Archives in his haste to return to the Autobot headquarters. Erudite could hardly remember being so uncertain as a juvenile, then again, he was more focused on his training than any war that was occurring outside of his duties.

It was the reason why the Archives had not yet fallen. As deluded as Megatron was, not even he dared face the wrath of the Master of Cybertronian Knowledge.

Austere had not told him exactly what his title had entailed when she abandoned him on that balcony, and even after all those vorns, Erudite had not discovered all it entailed.

He shook his head and tried to return to his paperwork, there certainly was enough of that and more than enough of his moping. He had work to do and a war to document


	2. The Neutrals of Kaon: Part 1

Yikes, this was my largest chapter so far and I still feel it was not enough. You may notice a bit of overlap between parts. Each bit will be broken up into different 'parts' which will be labelled at the start of each chapter.

Once again I'll ask that you leave a review or comment to let me know how this is going.

As per usual, I own nothing other then the characters I create.

0o0o0o0

The Neutrals of Kaon Part 1

"Find the little fragger or I'll dismantle you!" Astrotrain snarled at the cluster, "What kind of Decepticons are beaten by a youngling! Get her!"

The youngling in question pressed herself further into the shadows, thanking Primus, not for the first time, that she had darker colouring and was unseen by the triple-changer. The cluster dispersed in a hurry, she meanwhile drew her EM field in tightly, and frantically held all her systems a still as possible, her energon pump still moving and pounding in her auditory sensors. Ever so slowly, she edged towards a grate covering a maintenance shaft into the planet's core. Energon runs were becoming increasingly dangerous, the Decepticons were, much to her chagrin, finally getting smarter. She highly suspected that it was due to the new second in command Megatron had found, a scientist if she wasn't mistaken. He had brought some very new ideas to the table, dangerous ones that she had no desire to ever see complete. The whispers of a weapon capable of wiping out the Autobots was not something to dismiss easily.

Slowly she lifted the grate silently and slipped in astroseconds before Astrotrain's light flashed over the alley. Stilling her ventilations, she waited until the other triple-changer called to the harsh mech, drawing him away before releasing all her systems with a soft gasp. She looked down the shaft and let herself drop into the black beneath her. She could feel the levels rush past at an exhilarating speed and with practiced ease, casually reached out and snagged a carefully placed line. Ignoring the friction it caused, she slowed herself and swung into the blocked alcove. Striding confidently to the nearest corner, she knocked with precision, _knock-knock knockknockknock … Knock!_ She paused and gave a pointed glare at one corner before the wall melted away, revealing a stern and scowling femme.

"I should lock you out for good," she snapped, "you were ordered to remain in the camp!"

The black and silver femme smiled and stepped inside, "You need to relax Dige, I'm never caught!"

Digital glared down at her counterpart, "Frag it all Data, that is not the point! Binder is going to _crucify_ you for this!"

Data rolled her optics and grinned at the older femme, "He most certainly will not."

"He is!" Digital gripped her arm and drug her closer, "You disobeyed orders again! You heard him last time, Data, he is not going to go easy on you this time!"

Data frowned, "I got more then enough energon from the raid for him to chill, besides, the sparklings are starving!"

"Oooh! You and your soft spark are going to get you killed one day! What with the Autobots and Decepticons fighting on our doorstep, it's only a matter of time before we are finished!" Digital moaned. Data sighed, older she may be, but Digital was far to anxious for guard duty. Data was to, to be perfectly honest. She couldn't stand to see anyone get hurt, even the Decepticons. Digital rubbed at her optics, her gold and green frame catching the little light that was permitted.

Data reached out and gripped her servo, still wrapped around her arm and squeezed, "Come on, let's go give Hilt the good news."

Digital shook her head frantically, "I can't! I'm still on duty, and…" She looked at her friend guiltily, "I can't watch the punishment again. I barely can keep my audios on."

Data winced, with the shortage of energon everywhere their colony was hurting and tensions were high. She shivered at the very distinct possibility that Hilt might actually kill her for this. "Then don't, just… Come help me get to Fritz if I need to when your shift is over?"

Digital dropped the servo rubbing her optics and took Data's spare servo, raising both to her spark, "Of course. Don't anger him?"

Data gently pulled her servos away with a sigh, "Already done, my friend. Already done."

Digital looked like she might say something before closing off, nodding she turned back to her post and walked away. Data shivered at what awaited her and reluctantly walked deeper into the camp.

0o0o0o0

Hilt was a swordsmech, and a good one at that. He had settled in with the Neutrals with relative ease, attacking Fritz had been a misunderstanding, neither of them were Neutrals yet so it didn't count, and was quickly elected to oversee the camp. He was a big mech, and had a great sword as long as other mechs were tall. It certainly gave him a don't-frag-with-me-if-you-desire-to-continue-to-function vibe. However he was the most soft spoken mech in the camp, which made sense as his bondmate was practically impossible to shut up. His bondmate was the only reason he was here. Originally Hilt and planned to join with one of the factions as a frontliner, but Freezeframe had been hysterical at the mere suggestion. Freezeframe, his bondmate, was a slender but large mech and had lived in Praxus before the war. He was a shade of unique blue-purple that shone no matter the condition. The Praxian was a chronic worry wart. Ironically he also would have made a brilliant tactician. Freezeframe had the impressive talent of being able to nearly predict the outcomes of Hilt's plans, not to mention his skills at number crunching. His true talent was his hacking ability, the mech was a natural at getting information and leaving vicious viruses behind. He was a genius, Hilt couldn't figure out how he had gotten so lucky as to be gifted with his brilliant mate. Hilt was of the opinion that Freezeframe was handmade by Primus himself and was meant to be sent to a Prime or maybe a Towers mech. Somehow he ended up with the brilliant mathematician. He valued his advice and council above all other, except for his self-appointed impromptu second in command.

Binder was a mech made for the job, he was able to delegate with ease and could just as easily complete any task set in front of him. He had been a simple Polyhexian business mech before the war and had a particular talent of usually getting what the camp needed. An unassuming brown colour and of a smaller build he was ideal for going on energon raids, if he ever would. He was not as smart as Freezeframe, but was brilliant in his own way. Not to say the three of them didn't fight, in fact they were doing so right now.

"-complete disregard for the safety of this camp and-"

"Oh, shut it, you pompous, rusted, son of a glitch! The youngling saved many from starvation! A little leeway is nothing!" His mate argued vehemently. He was rather attached to Data, Hilt had the sneaking suspicion the femme reminded his bonded of their lost sparkling.

It was Hilt's greatest failure and what spurred him to remain next to his bonded no matter what they may face. He had to admit, the youngling did have the same passion for life that Rectify had. He liked the little femme, and admired her tenacity.

Binder on the other hand _loathed_ the femme with a passion rarely seen from the reserved mech, "Absolutely not! She undermines our ability to lead the mechs and femmes! She must be punished!"

Freezeframe was not naturally a very aggressive mech, outside of the berth that is, nor was he particularly intimidating, he left those traits to his bondmate. This made him terrifying when he chose to be, mainly because it was rarely expected. He expressed himself more than Hilt, but was still a fairly reserved mech.

The Praxian towered over the Polyhexian, wings sweeping out and over, making him appear much larger than he really was as he laid into the smaller mech.

Hilt took the moment to admire his bondmate, he could feel his righteous, protective rage over their bond as well as his anger over their situation. As always in the background was his love for the swordsmech, never fading and a constant in Hilt's life. Freezeframe had beautiful wings, they were a rarely seen type, split from two into four. From what he knew of his bondmate, he was from the Eastern section of Praxus, a little further from the main city then most towns and villages were. He had said his wings were common in the area, Hilt couldn't see how anything about Freezeframe's wings were common. They were a little thinner than most doorwings but were slightly longer, their thinnest points where they connected to his frame and widest at the ends. This allowed them to sweep and curl as well as give him very basic flight capabilities In his root mode. The larger two were the 'top' pair, spanning past his shoulders, the lower pair slightly shorter but still extended past his hips. The wings on his right side were attached just as the left side was, connecting right before the attachment point, giving the appearance of four wings even though there was really only two. His sensor abilities were unparalleled. He was able to sense even the slightest vibrations in the surrounding areas due to the sensitivity in the wings.

He had to give Binder credit for standing his ground in the face of the furious mech, even on the battlefield, Hilt could not guarantee he would not flee at the sight of the angered mech.

"-she should be banished! Clearly nothing else will work!"

All movement in the 'office', it was really only a glorified storeroom, froze as the temperature seemed to drop drastically.

Freezeframe froze a stared at the Polyhexian, "Have you lost your processor? Banishment!? Absolutely not!"

"She refuses to follow orders and has zero respect for authority! She is a danger to this camp!" Binder stuck to his guns.

The mathematician drew himself up, wings flaring, "I forbid it."

Binder got a mech-eating grin, "Ah, Freezeframe, you forget, _I_ outrank _you_."

"Not in this you will not!" He snarled and loomed over the brown mech, "You will find that I am very serious when it comes to banishment. You were a trader, Binder, you know Praxian law pertaining to banishment. I will _not_ allow this!"

Hilt got a flicker of violent intent from his bondmate and quickly intervened, "That is enough. Freezeframe," His beloved's sharp white optics nearly pierced him through his spark, "I agree that we cannot allow Data to go unpunished, but banishment," he turned to his friend and stared him down, "banishment is one act I will _not_ permit."

Binder looked like he was going to argue before Freezeframe growled and he relented, "Very well, that femme is going to have so much work to do she's not going to be able to even _process_ the thought of disobeying!"

Freezeframe deflated, wings relaxing into a less aggressive stance, "Very well. Would you like to draw up a new schedule or shall I?"

"I'll handle it. I received several new networks being utilized and would like you to see about cracking them. Also, Clicker was able to get in touch with his Autobot 'friend', apparently they are trying to gain the support of the Master of Cybertronian Knowledge."

Hilt snorted, "Oh, they already have it. Erudite is far to old and much to clever to ever let anyone actually know he supports them. It would mean a swift attack from the Decepticons, and that would not bode well for anyone."

"Indeed," Freezeframe pondered, "Megatron would be a fool to attack the Archives, not even Sentinel Prime dared pressure the mech. I honestly can't blame them, he is certainly a difficult mech."

"I'm surprised. You know the Master of Cybertronian Knowledge by name?" Binder leaned closer, intrigued, "He only ever goes by Head Archivist."

Hilt chuckled softly and slowly stood from his desk, "Indeed. But that is a tale for another time. For now, we have a youngling to punish, and I believe we should refuel and recharge." He directed the last bit at his fading bondmate. The poor mech didn't have an aggressive strut in his frame and the argument seemed to drain him exponentially, "My dear?" he softly asked as he came around the desk, holding out a servo for his mate. Freezeframe let his appreciation and adoration trickle through the always open bond and gently took his servo, lacing the digits together with ease gained over hundreds of vorns as partners.

Binder grunted disgusted, "Yeah we get it. You're both old and gross. Go rest, Hilt and don't be a nuisance." The mech in question let out a small offended sound, "Don't deny it. You hover and scare the rest of us. Freezeframe, if you could give getting into the networks a go and let me know what you find?"

The mathematician quirked his mouthplates, "Naturally. Consider it done." With that he allowed his love to tug him gently closer and slid his arm around his waist, "Don't break Data."

Hilt huffed softly, bending down to press a chaste kiss to his mate's cheekplates, "Relax, dear."

"Never," the Praxian declared wrapping his wings around them and let the larger mech drag them towards their shared room, "it's what keeps you out of trouble."

Binder heard the large swordsmech laugh happily as they rounded the corner, thrilled to be simply near his other half.

"Idiots. The both of them," he grumbled before sitting down and pulling up the duty schedule for the next several orns.

0o0o0o0

Quickshot normally didn't take note of the coming and gongs of the various Neutrals, it wasn't in his current job description. An underage femme sneaking out and getting back with enough energon stuffed in her subspace to feed the Neutral camp barely made it on the radar. Barely, but it still did. Which was why he was now investigating into the femme in question. She was sneaky enough to get out without triggering even _his_ sensors, that in itself was impressive. Quickshot was not easily impressed, she had avoided sensors, Decepticons patrols, stolen a large quantity of energon, and avoided detection as she returned. It was… Impressive. Not to mention this was Kaon, the Decepticons _capital_ it showed that her talents were wasted with the Neutrals.

The Neutrals, he sighed in aggravation. Most of the Neutrals treated him like they were better than him, Quickshot didn't take to _that,_ naturally. Considering he had saved their useless afts on more than one occasion, he believed that he had earned a little respect.

-You never needed respect before- Fritz purred over their bond.

-Well I certainly never got any from _you_.- he shot back shifting imperceptibly to keep and eye on the moving forces. –I had to look elsewhere-

Fritz huffed a soft laugh, warming Quickshot's spark at the sound, -I see that. You've been spoiled lately.-

-I've also been on lookout above Decepticon headquarters. I deserve a little spoiling.-

-Do you now?- the mech said –Well, I suppose we will have to see about that when you return.-

Against his will, his systems warmed and his cooling fans kicked in, -I look forward to it-

-No need to sound so enthusiastic, it's only been a few orns. We have been apart longer.-

-A very different situation.- He paused, weighing the value of his next words, -I… Do not like being away from you.-

There was silence but a warm feeling transmitted before Fritz answered, -I understand the feeling. It has been… Different without you here. You will be back in two orns?-

The sniper grinned into his scope, "Count on it." He said aloud and across the bond as he lined up his shot. He _lived_ for these moments, the thrill behind taking down an unsuspecting mech or femme. It was rare he had the chance, he only was permitted to now because the mech in question was investigating the entrance to the camp. He lived for this. Which… Wasn't exactly true. He lived for Fritz and only Fritz, the kill came secondary. Always. Mainly because he was afraid of what might happen if one orn the kill came _first_. It was not a thought he liked to entertain.

When they first met, Quickshot was an officer in the Decepticon's XOps division, Fritz had been simply a highly thought of soldier. And they had fought, Fritz put his servo through his holding tank once over a tactical disagreement. Even with the threat of termination, the frontliner refused to back down. Returning after he had been patched up and deemed 'better than dead' they met again, in the field. The dark blue frontliner was in charge of holding a telecommunications tower. He was doing a good job, but he didn't see the other sneak up behind him. He knew the mech as his Autobot counterpart from their Special Operations division, he was elegant but efficient. He didn't manage to kill the mech, he was too good to let Quickshot kill him with one shot, but he did injure him and save Fritz, and their objective. In fact, they had worked so well together that they were assigned to each other. Permanently.

The pair had been the scourge of the Autobots for several vorns until a stray shot caught Fritz in the chest, nearly hitting his spark. The frontliner dropped along with Quickshot's spark. He didn't realise he even _cared_ about the mech. He got him to a medic and tried to go back to the way things were before, Decepticons were not supposed to _care_. And yet…

Once Fritz was cleared for the field, Megatron assigned them to a base not far from Kaon. He helped the mech with his recovery, despite a few energon cubes to the faceplates, it worked well for them. Until it didn't. They had both been over-energized by the multiple cubes of high-grade they drank.

"What would I do without you," he had sighed while staring at the other mech. He instantly stiffened and was prepared to flee the base and demand a multi-vorn mission away from the quadrant to escape, when Fritz smiled.

"About as well, I imagine, as I would do _without_ _you_ ," he reached over carefully, ignoring the stuttering in his spark, slowly wove their servos together, being mindful of the claws they had.

They risked everything to escape Megatron's persecution of all bondmates. They were almost too slow. Quickshot had overheard the call between Shockwave and the base commander, detailing the pickup of the two mechs for delivery to his lab. Effective next orn. Quickshot and Fritz made quick work of packing and with one last streak of spite, rigged the base and surrounding area to blow. They ran, planning on going until they reached the Sea of Rust, rendering sensors useless and giving them the edge when, not if, Megatron came looking for revenge. What they didn't plan on was running into a returning patrol. Injured and low on supplies and energon, they had been forced into Kaon and took refuge under the city.

It was there that they met Freezeframe. Well, where Fritz met Freezeframe and Hilt by extension.

Quickshot had his abdominal plating crushed by an angry tank, it was a strange bit of luck actually, the plating slowed energon flow which had kept him from bleeding out, but was also slowly killing him. Fritz had fixed the problem once they were safely in the city, but he still needed more energon than he could give. Fritz had been half panicked, not paying attention to his surroundings, and racing through the underground trying to find something to help. He quite literally ran the poor Praxian over. Freezeframe had been also scavenging for supplies and was not paying attention to the incoming sensor data. The resulting crash and the mathematician's scream was more than enough to bring Hilt sprinting from where he had been resting.

The Praxian had panicked and in his haste to get away slipped, he would have fallen into Cybertron's core if Fritz hadn't caught him. Instead of pulling the mech up, he bargained for supplies and assistance to fix Quickshot in return for saving his life. With Hilt still too far to help him, the mathematician agreed and followed the ex-Decepticon. They had just reached the alcove where Quickshot had been left when Hilt caught up with them. It was the angriest that Quickshot and Fritz had ever seen the normally good natured mech. It didn't help that Fritz had grabbed Freezeframe's doorwing out of instinct, resulting in the pained half-squeak and Hilt launching himself top of the frontliner.

They were both infinitely thankful that Freezeframe managed to stop his bondmate and tell him what had happened as well as the fact that Hilt did not bother to draw his sword before attacking Fritz.

It was their new beginning as Neutrals, who fought to not fight, as strange as it seemed to the former Decepticons. And what a beginning it was, Quickshot smiled and squeezed the trigger and watched the mech drop, Fritz, as always the first thing in his thoughts.

-For you? I always will.-

0o0o0o0

"I can't believe Binder stuck me on triple shifts! For the next five orns! I've already done two! I'm going to have to recharge for an entire _vorn_ after this!" Data moaned as she practically melted into the chair at the monitor station, "A whole _vorn_ Digital!"

"Be thankful that Freezeframe was there to save your aft!" The gold and green femme snapped sourly, "You could have had to undergo physical punishment! Not even Fritz would have been able to rebuild you after Binder was finished."

The silver and black femme rolled her eyes, "Come on, Dige! It wasn't that bad!"

"It was and you know it!"

"Was not."

"Was too."

"It was not!"

"I'm telling you, it was too!"

"Come off it!"

"Frag you to the Pit and back, Data!"

"Would you two mute it! Primus," Drillbit snapped at the arguing femmes.

"Aww, sorry Rosey! We didn't mean to annoy you." Data teased mercilessly, poking fun at the mech's rose pink and black frame colours.

"Frag you, half-bit, go suck on an exhaust pipe!" The sour mech shot back, not once looking away from the monitors.

Digital sighed and moved to her lover, "I'm sorry, I know you drew the short straw getting stuck on monitor duty." She laid her servos on his shoulders and slowly began to rub the tense cables in his neck. He sighed and let his helm fall back to rest against the femme's midsection. Data politely turned and focused fully on the monitors, letting the two reconnect after having to go through drastically different schedules for the orns she had been topside.

Digital leaned over and pecked Drillbit on his olfactory sensors before returning her full attention to loosening the tense cables in the mech's neck and upper back.

Data vaguely wondered if they would ever fully bond. Whenever she had asked Digital, she had looked slightly sad and insisted it wasn't a good time, there was a war going on after all. Drillbit had very little to say on the subject. Usually he would blink before staring at Digital with a soft expression that looked out of place on his normally harsh, scowling faceplates.

Data didn't really understand it. Hilt and Freezeframe had been happily bonded forever it seemed, the 'medic' Fritz and Quickshot, the resident sharpshooter, had bonded near the start of the war and seemed happy enough. Digital and Drillbit were just emotionally constipated sparklings and needed to get their slag together.

Finally Digital vented, long and slow, trailing one servo up and down the mech's spinal column. She leaned back over and before she could move, Drillbit whipped a servo up and pulled her down to kiss her. Afterwards they just looked at each other all sappy like before she pulled away.

"My shift starts in a breem, I need to get down to Fritz before he blows a gasket," she said softly but darted in again to kiss his cheekplate, "I'll see you tonight."

Drillbit brushed a servo over her waist, "Tonight."

"Primus you two are disgusting," Data grumbled.

"Shut it, half-bit!" Drillbit snarled and returned his attention to Digital as she left.

"You should ask," Data stretched out a peace offering.

The mech snorted, "No."

She shrugged and turned her attention back to the monitors and glimpsed a flash of something blue, "Scrap and scrap!" Launching forward she switched to the only other shitty camera they had and got a good look at the symbol on his chest, "Frag! Call Hilt and let him know there is a seeker on our front door!"

"Only one?" He asked, already relaying the info to the large mech.

Data froze, "Oh. Oh dear. He probably is already in contact with his trine!"

Drillbit looked at her, "Shut off all power, the whole works except for the monitors, and get everyone to pull back behind the blast doors."

Already moving in tandem, the pair sent out the call and updated the command team while switching off power and reroute get excess to something that gave off a low reading and no light. With that, the base was plunged into black and they waited.

0o0o0o0

Hilt had been walking towards his office when he received an emergency ping from the mech on monitor duty. ::Go ahead.::

::We have a confirmed Decepticon contact at the entrance. Only one at the moment but he's a seeker. We are going to activate Blackout routines and try to disappear from his sensors. It might be too late though.::

Hilt cursed, ::Well done. I'm heading there now.::

::Understood.:: the mech paused for a moment ::Sir, try not to lose a limb, Freezeframe would be inconsolable.::

Hilt chuckled as he ran towards the entrance way, ::Inform Binder have everyone go into comm silence. Get Freezeframe to use the time to try and hack into his personal comm, maybe he can trick him into leaving.::

::Acknowledged, good luck, Hilt.::

Hilt increased his optics input to see in the black hallways. The swordsmech rounded the corner and without pausing, drew out his great sword. It was a thing of beauty, tempered into a matte black with faint lines of gold a blue giving it the markings of an energon sword, but without the telltale brilliant colouring. It was perfect for fighting within the planet and despite its size, Hilt had never had a problem fighting in close quarters. Probably due to the fact the blade would slice through damn near anything Including walls and support structures. He brought down a building on himself in a scuffle with Decpeticons before he had reached the neutral camp, Freezeframe had actually screamed himself hoarse yelling at him after he dug the larger mech out..

He continued to run, mechs, femmes, and sparklings all fleeing deeper into their small underground city in the hopes of safety. Nearly all of the Neutrals could not or refused to fight, Hilt knew only a handful that were actually capable of any form of violence. There was Quickshot and Fritz, a sniper and a mech capable of small EMP's respectively, not to mention both being ex-Decepticons, Binder who was a crack shot, Freezeframe, who as well as being able to upload viruses practically on command, also had short twin blades Hilt had made for him decades ago. There was also Snap and Snip a pair of feral sisters who had the tendency to dismember their opponents, Cracktop, an older mech who was a genius when it came to explosives, himself, and, surprisingly enough, Data. The youngling was able to silence her systems and would preform silent attacks. She never killed but would protect herself and those around her without question.

Hilt nearly ran into Quickshot as he rounded another corner, the mech grabbing him and hauling him into an alcove. Hilt did the math and realized the mech must have just arrived, he had the bad habit of sneaking in and out of the camp at whim let alone when he came back from a guard shift.

"Primus, you are loud!" The sniper hissed and peered around the corner, as well as a sniper, Quickshot operated as almost their own version of the Autobots Special Ops. The mech was in a very similar boat as Hilt, except he had actually joined the Decepticons right at the beginning of the war. He had been their silent terror and did a good number on the opposing Autobot forces, he was well known to the Autobots and not in a positive way. He would still be with the Decepticons now if he hadn't met Fritz and left with his bondmate. Surprisingly, their compassionate yet vicious, impromptu medic had been a Decepticon frontliner. He was a nasty piece of work, even now, it took Hilt a long time to figure out that they managed each other, tempering the others anger and ferocity. The only reason they left the Decepticons was because of Megatron's absolute law regarding bond and sparkmates of any kind, they would either be terminated or sent to Shockwave for experimentation. The pair had blown the base they were stationed at on their way out as an extra frag you to Megatron.

"Blame my build, what is going on?" He hissed back at the blue and black mech.

"He called in his trine of course. They contacted their base and have a scouting party heading this way."

Hilt cursed long and hard, paused to try and cool his systems, before going off again, "Fragging fantastic! Do we need to evacuate?"

"Possibly, we could try and lure them away, it might work depending on how stupid they are. The kids on monitor duty worked quickly which was the only thing that saved us."

Hilt vented, "Fine, lets try to lead them away. Do not kill any of them, the last thing we need is an enraged broken trine on our skid plates."

Quickshot grinned, dark and feral, before flinching slightly and laying a servo over his spark, "Fritz might dismember me after this."

"He doesn't like the idea?"

"Not at all. He loves it and is pissed that you're going instead of him. Unless," he stared off as he communicated with his bondmate. Hilt took the time to do the same.

-'Frame?-

-I'm here, are you alright?-

-Just fine. Quickshot and I have a plan to lure the Decpeticons away-

Panic flooded the bond, -Hilt…-

-It will be alright- he sent a soft ripple of calm, -Quickshot has my back, and I have the sneaking suspicion that Fritz may be joining us-

Soft laughter echoed over -Yes, I suppose you mig-oh.-

-Freezframe?-

The entire camp was rocked by an explosion, causing chunks of the level above them to come tumbling down. Hilt grabbed Quickshot, yanking him out of the way of a beam that would have speared him, and covered the smaller mech with his frame. When the shaking stopped pure chaos emerged.

::Everyone follow the evacuation plan! We are going to close the blast doors but it won't give you much time! The best bet is to make it topside and regroup!::

::We should go to the Autobots! They could help us!::

::They are as bad as the Decepticons!::

::I don't want to fight!::

::The Autobots are in Iacon! How would we got from Kaon to Iacon!?::

Quickshot snarled and took control of the mass comm channel, ::Speaking as a former Decepticon, I can guarantee that the Autobots would be the far better choice!::

Hilt froze as he felt pain lance through his spark, -Freezeframe!?-

-I'm alright. I'm pinned by the ceiling, but I don't think there is any permanent damage.- His bondmate calmly sent across the bond, -I can't move, which is going to prove a problem very shortly.-

Hilt whirled to see Quickshot already watching him, the ex-Decepticon surprised him by quirking a rarely seen smile and gestured back into the camp, "Get going. I'll stall them when they make it through the blast doors."

"But-"

"I'll survive," he waved off his concerns, "I've a few tricks left in my arsenal. Go, and do me a favour? Keep an optic on Fritz, he is going to lose his processor when I stop blocking him."

With a scrap-eating grin, the mech whirled and sprinted towards the intruding force.

Hilt watched him for an astrosecond before turning and running as fast as he could deeper into the camp.

It was hell, whatever the explosion was it had caused a cascade effect, resulting in several systems blowing and causing their own explosions. He ducked and managed to slide under the blast doors as they separated the camp in half. Cracktop appeared and ran alongside him for a breem before veering off to try and help a group that had been trapped inside what amounted as their 'rec room'. Another explosion, much more violent, actually knocked him off his pedes and smashed him back down.

A short cry echoed through his bond with Freezeframe, chilling his spark to the core.

-I'm alright. Hurry.- His mate sent over, quashing his own panic under attempting to remotely hack into the Decepticons systems.

Launching himself off the floor, Hilt followed the constant tug on his spark and ran into the computing room, named after Freezeframe and Fritz had engaged in a calculation battle. The game had ended when both shorted out their processors from pushing so much through it at once.

The ceiling had caved in, a chunk resting across a beam, with Freezeframe stuck underneath. The beam laid parallel to the mathematician and had inadvertently saved him from the several ton slab of metal that had fallen on top of them.

"Freezeframe!" He called out, dropping his sword in his haste to reach his bondmate.

"Hilt," the Praxian gasped, vents heaving with the stress his systems were under, "please get me out of here!"

"Your wish is my command," he said lowly, planting himself against the metal and heaved. It was unbelievably heavy, and barely shifted. Grunting he adjusted his stance and _pushed,_ warnings flashed across his HUD, which he promptly dismissed, ignoring the ominous creaking of his systems and support struts. With a final bellow, he moved it just enough that his bondmate could crawl backwards, scrapping layers of paint and some of his frame off, but he made it out.

Hilt promptly buckled and barely cleared the slab and it came crashing down, flattening the beam that had saved Freezeframe from being crushed. They laid there for a breem before the ceiling gave a mighty creak, terrifying the mechs into scrambling out of the room.

The Praxian was in rough shape, his doorwings were severely damaged and needed repairs, seeing his mates frame covered in hairline and compression fractures, made the whole situation seem far to real. It had been close. Too close.

He reached over, vents stuttering, and gently gathered the mech close, holding him ever so carefully to avoid adding to his injuries.

"I will live, my dear, there is no need to stress overmuch," the smaller mech said softly, shaking arms wrapping around his waist. He seemed vaguely stunned, not truly believing that he had managed to survive the ordeal. Hilt bent over and pressed his face against Freezeframe's neck, feeling the cables and lines move and pump coolant and energon around his very much alive frame.

"Thank Primus," he said softly before pulling away, "we need to go. We're evacuating the camp, everyone is scattering it seems."

"Indeed Fritz was in here before the explosion but ran off quite quickly," he said worried.

"Quickshot insisted on staying behind to give everyone a little more time to get out," he couldn't see the horrified look on the Praxian's faceplates as his arms tightened further, "The blast doors were closing, I'm guessing he is stuck on our side."

"Wouldn't you have passed him?"

"I was a little more concerned about getting to you than seeing who was running the wrong way."

Freezframe sighed softly, squeezing one last time before carefully withdrawing, Primus, his entire being ached, "Let us fetch our 'medic' then."

Hilt watched him before chuckling softly.

"Now what is it?" the Praxian grumbled.

"Well, if I recall correctly, you said something a few orns ago about keeping me out of trouble? It seems the situation has reversed itself. I find it rather humorous because you said-"

Freezframe groaned, "Yes, yes, I get it. Let's go before you offline me from your _horrendous_ sense of humour!"

Hilt smiled and nodded, stopping to pick up his sword and slid it back into its sheath across his back before moving back into the chaos filled hallway. Smoke billowed out, from the various fires, Hilt ducked as low as he could which still wasn't low enough. He could already feel the smoke beginning to congeal in his systems. Smoke was one of those 'things' that Freezeframe had put on his list of things to avoid. He crouched, filled his vents with cleaner air and promptly closed them. His cooling systems were already operating at suboptimal levels, he probably damaged them trying to lift that slab of metal. Now that he thought about it, he ached everywhere. He stood up and ran towards the nearest set of blast doors, Freezeframe right behind him.

::Are you alright? Your cooling systems sound…::

::I'm too tall, not much I can do, I have to keep my vents closed.::

::Damn, what a mess.::

They ran across Cracktop again, helping a couple mechs and carrying a sparkling towards the emergency exit the built in.

"Cracktop! Have you seen Fritz?" Freezeframe called.

"Yeah, last I saw the crazy fragger was trying to break through the blast doors. Was actually making progress to," the old eccentric mech grinned, he was a putrescent shade of orange and acted as a beacon for the Neutrals to follow, "Good luck!"

"And to you as well! Till all are one," Freezeframe said softly.

Cracktop smiled at the pair, "Till all are one. Let's move!" He called to the small group. Mirrorimage, a femme with the unique ability to shift forms had her sparkling clutched to her chestplates was in the group. She watched them with a singleminded intensity before nodding and moving after Cracktop. Her sparkling peeked over her shoulder, and despite the destruction and fires around them, smiled and gave a little wave.

Parting ways the pair finally heard the sickening clanging of a mech attempting to smash himself through a set of blast doors.

::I swear, these two will be the death of me:: Freezeframe sighed before Fritz came into view.

The ex-Decepticon was snarling in unrestrained fury at the barrier in front of him, judging by the dents and damage to the door he very likely would have made it through within a few breems.

"Fritz! We have to go!"

Fritz was not an actual medic, he did not have the proper do-no-harm protocols, nor the upgrades that most medics had. What he did have was battlefield medicine and the sheer tenacity to literally hold a mech together for as long it took for him to stabilize. He was a dark near black blue and kept his red optics despite his pure hatred for the Decepticons. Everyone knew to watch out for Quickshot, no one ever thought to worry about Fritz. They frequently forgot that he had been a frontliner, for the Decepticons no less. They generally used shock troopers due to the sheer armour on the mechs, frontliners were well armoured but not as heavily, they also were a little less reliable but faster and more vicious for it.

"I will _not_ leave him! Don't you dare ask me to or I will extinguish your _spark_ ," he roared.

Hilt carefully placed himself between the ex-Decepticon and his bondmate, "Quickshot will be fine, he is buying time for us all to get out!"

Freezeframe carefully stepped around Hilt and despite his protest, placed a servo on the distraught mech, "I know. Trust me, we know better than most. But he will stay until he knows you are safe, the faster we leave the faster he can get out."

Fritz looked like he might rip Freezeframe's arm off and beat him with it before a look of despair came over him and he slumped, "I- I can't-"

"I know," Freezeframe carefully started to guide him away from the blast door, "I know."

Hilt watched them carefully and let his mate murmur to the mech and before long they were running out of the camp to what they hoped was relative safety.

Though in Kaon, safety was in short supply.

0o0o0o0


End file.
